Question

How wide is the actual house if a model house is 12 inches wide and it was built with a ratio of 3 inches : 4 meters?

Answer 1

The ratio of 3 inches : 4 meters can be written as two fractions which can be used as conversion factors. They are `"3 inches"/"4 meters"` and `"4 meters"/"3 inches"`.

Now multiply 12 inches times the conversion factor that has meters in the numerator and inches in the denominator. This will cancel the inches and leave meters.

`"12 inches"` x `"4 meters"/"3 inches"` = `"16 meters"`

The width of the actual house is `"16 meters"`.